Montreal: The 19th edition of the International Festival of Films on Art/Festival international du film sur l’art (FIFA) unspools at six venues March 13-18 with 180 films and videos from 25 countries on the program.

Under the leadership of director Rene Rozon, FIFA is the only North American festival devoted exclusively to art films. Highlights from this year’s FIFA program will be presented in Quebec City, Trois-Rivieres, New York and Helsinki.

The festival opens on March 12 with a special advanced screening of Calatrava, Dieu ne joue pas aux des, a portrait of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava by French director Catherine Adda.

Always an eclectic mix, this year’s program highlights include William Klein’s Le Messie, a revisiting of Handel’s famous oratorio in the year 2000 and the festival’s opening film; Chris Bould’s Kusturica; and Lena Einhorn’s Loving Greta Garbo, 10 years after the legendary movie star’s death.

Also on the program are Anca Damian’s Eminescu – Voyage virtuel dans l’absolu, a profile of Romania’s most celebrated poet; Lennart Pasborg’s Erik Bruhn: I’m The Same – Only More, a work that sheds light on one of the 20th century’s greatest dancers; and Marc-Henri Wajnberg’s Oscar Niemeyer – Un architecte engage dans le siecle, a portrait of the 92-year-old creator of Brasilia.

Close to 40 films from 17 countries are in competition this year, including six from Canada.

Canadian films in competition include Philippe Baylaucq’s Les Couleurs du sang, an intimate portrait of his grandfather, the painter Andre Bieler; Building Heaven, Remembering Earth: Confessions of a Fallen Architect, a philosophical essay on architecture by Oliver Hockenhull; and Raymond Saint-Jean’s L’Homme de verre, a journey into the world of Tchaikovsky.

Rounding out the Canadian contenders are Larry Weinstein’s Ravel’s Brain, a musical expressionist poem on the composer’s last days; Jacques Godbout’s Anne Hebert, a profile of the late great Quebec poet and novelist, filmed by cinematographer Michel Brault; and Soo Lyu’s The Woodcutter and His Bride, an animated film adapted from a Korean legend.

The program also includes films on London’s new Tate Modern Gallery, a showcase of three dizzying decades of Canadian video art, and a tribute to British director Leslie Megahey, whose portrait subjects include Orson Welles and Goya.

Screenings take place at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Musee d’art contemporain, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Goethe-Institut, the NFB Cinema and Cinematheque Quebecoise. *

-www.artfifa.com